PS Intro: This below song reflects that deeply spiritual truth how
Parama Purusa is always graciously calling the jiivas towards His divine
Self through His eternal sound of omnkara– His murali dhvani, the
divine sound of Cosmic Consciousness.

“Tumi je d’ekecho a’ma’y, a’ja je ghare tha’ka’ da’y…” (PS 736)

Purport:

Baba, it is impossible for me to remain here in my house because by Your
grace You have called me to come close to You. Baba, I want to respond
to Your gracious call. Baba, it is difficult to comprehend how
wonderfully magical Your tunes and melodies are. Baba, You are so
charming. Baba, in the abode of my mind the divine vibrations of Your
flute resonate incessantly– ceaselessly. By Your grace I hear Your
flute always: While sleeping, in my dreams, and in my awakened state.
Baba, You are so gracious; You are residing in my heart all the time,
all the 24hrs. Baba, even if I want to forget You, how can I forget You.
Baba, Your greatness is beyond conception. No matter how many octaves I
know, You are remaining beyond them all. You are beyond the reach of my
limited human capacity. Baba, by Your grace the resonance of Your divine
flute makes me float beyond all the lokas in Your rhythm, in Your song,
and in Your blissful melodies. Baba, O’ Divine Entity, please give me
shelter at Your lotus feet…

== LORD SHIVA D’AMBARU’ PRANAM ACARYA ==

Namaskar,
Baba makes one joke equating certain acaryas with the da’mbaru (small
drum) of Lord Shiva. The audio file (Hindi) about this has been uploaded HERE.

Here is the full story and hilarious situation.

THE DA’MBARU’S BLOATED EGO

All may be aware that Lord Shiva would often hold a trident and a
da’mbaru (small drum). To see a picture of the da’mbaru, search Google
images using the spelling “Shiva damaru”.

Being a great luminary and Taraka Brahma, it was very common for the
people of the day to come and pay their humble salutations to Lord
Shiva. He was revered and worshiped by all. Thus devotees from around
the world would lay prostrate in front of Lord Shiva, surrendering
everything at His alter. And He would bless them and solve their
problems. Being the embodiment of Supreme Consciousness itself, Lord
Shiva was the Master of this Universe and everyone in all lands held
Shiva with the highest regards. They all wanted to touch His feet.

All the while – when all this was going on – Lord Shiva would have His
da’mbaru along with Him.

So Baba recounts how, over time, Lord Shiva’s da’mbaru (small drum)
began to develop an ego about this. Everyone from around the world was
paying their deepest respects to Lord Shiva. And seeing this day after
day, the da’mbaru began to think that people were actually coming to pay
reverence to it (i.e. the da’mbaru). The da’mbaru was thinking that it
was great and that no matter where it went, people would bow down and
pay their deepest respects. The da’mbaru became totally blind and forgot
entirely that all the people were giving reverence to Lord Shiva – not
the da’mbaru.

Such is the play of ego. Whenever ego gets the chance to crop up – it will.

And that is the humorous joke that Baba is making on the audio file
because this same type of outrageous scene is present in our acarya
culture in AMPS. And all those present that day were laughing loudly as
Baba tells this hilarious joke.

DOING PRANAM IN ANANDA MARGA

So how does all this relate with the past and present situation in AM.
How is this joke about the da’mbaru relevant. Let’s have a look.

Again, here we are not talking about all, but rather some acaryas and
perhaps even a few family acaryas etc.

Everyone in AM has great love, respect, and realisation that Baba is the
Taraka Brahma – the Supreme One in human form. And we know that Baba
resides within each and every pore of this universe.

Thus when we pay our salutations to anyone, we are actually honoring the
Supreme Consciousness that lies within that human being and viewing that
jiivatman as representation or reflection of Parama Purusa. We all know
that this is the way our salutation system works.

Naturally then, when margiis have full feeling and love for Baba then
they like to recognise His presence in the form of everyone and
everything. In that case when any margiis approaches an acarya, they may
bid pranama as they wish to pay respects to the Baba that lies within.
This is the proper approach.

Yet, over time, the ego of some acaryas gets in the way. Like the
da’mbaru, such acaryas get blinded and gradually forget what is
happening. Due to the rise of their own vanity, they think that margiis
are coming to salute them. Such Dadas think margiis are honoring their
greatness. They forgot that margiis are saluting the Supreme that lies
within. They forgot that margiis are paying their respects to Parama Purusa.

That is why Baba is making that joke that the ego of those acaryas has
made them just like that da’mbaru. That is the parallelism that Baba is
making and that is why margiis are laughing hysterically when they hear
Baba tell this joke.

Of course here the point is not that all acaryas do like this, but some
fall into this ugly trap of the ego. They are the ones that are like the
da’mbaru.

And this is still going on today.

HOW IT WAS BORN IN THAT PRE-1990 ERA

This was the case in the pre-1990 era as well.

Everyone – thousands of margiis – would come, nay race towards Baba,
from around the world to pay their respects to the Lord. This was the
way it was and so many acaryas grew up in this scene.

Baba would grace humanity by conducting huge DMCs and tens of thousands
of devotees would come to see Him, do Guru Puja, and surrender
everything at His lotus feet.

All the while certain central Dadas would hover around Baba likes bees
and would even be up on stage with Baba during the DMC. Naturally,
margiis viewed those acaryas are representatives of Baba. This was and
is the proper way to think – because after all everything in the
universe is the manifestation of the Supreme.

So with full love and feeling margiis would do pranam and touch the feet
of those acaryas because they wished to salute their nearest and dearest
Divine Entity Baba.

This went on for years and years and, due to their own lack of insight,
some acaryas developed vanity. They thought that their own greatness was
the operative factor and that margiis had come to honor them. They did
not know that Baba is that attractive Personality, not Dada X, Dada Y,
or Dada Z.

So due to the play of ego, just like with the da’mbaru, those Dadas got
misled down the road of false vanity, thinking that themselves were
great. They forgot that devtoees were honoring Parama Purusa, not them.
But in their blindness, they thought that they themselves were great and
that wherever they went people should salute them due to their regal
quality.

Such is that outrageous play of the ego. And that is why Baba is making
the joke about the da’mbaru.

BABA’S WARNING ABOUT EGO

Thus everyone should be aware about the tall talks and false vanity that
comes from having an inflated ego. That asmita’ or ego will blind people
into thinking that they are everything and they will forget that Parama
Purusa is the Supreme One.

Baba says, “Asmita’ [ego or vanity] is devoid of any discrimination,
people with this mental defect lose their power of discrimination.
First, they think that since they are so great, there is no need for
them to learn anything from others. As a result of this, their further
progress comes to a halt. Secondly, the arrogant attitude of this
asmita’ banishes from their minds the humble psychology of the learner.
They lose interest in learning anything useful; so not only in the world
of knowledge, but also in the world of practicality, they become misfits
in life because of their mountainous accumulated ignorance…Thus the
arrogance born of this asmita’ will lead people towards their downfall.
This arrogance, which makes them want to display themselves, forgetting
all other things, is termed aham’ka’ra [vanity]. The predominant vrtti
behind it is aham [ego]: “I am everything, there is nothing beyond and
outside me.”” (NSS, Disc: 10)

So it is with this type of humongous ego that people get lost in their
own vanity. They forget Parama Purusa. In that case when pranam is done,
they think they themselves are great. When in fact, it was all due to Him.

There is an irony to all of this in note #1 down below.

Here first is yet another warning about having an inflated ego. This is
another problem. When ego develops, then one does not like to surrender
to Parama Purusa. Tragically we have seen how some big Dadas do not like
to sing Kiirtan or do sastuanga pranam etc. This especially happens to
those with the top chair. I think names need not be given, we all know
who is involved.

Baba says, “You know, when a man learns much or earns much, his ego, his
vanity, gets puffed up. The man gets puffed up with vanity, and under
such circumstances he becomes so conscious of his little existence that
it becomes very difficult for him to surrender before the Supreme…This
is a psychic disease. Actually, vanity is a psychic disease, a psychic
ailment.”

BABA’S BLESSING

By Baba’s grace He loves us and teaches us in so many ways, even through
humor. Whoever we may be, never should we allow the false vanity to
creep into our mental plate as has happened with the da’mbaru of Lord
Shiva which thinks that the whole world has come to salute it (i.e. the
drum). Thus any acarya or family acarya falling into this trap should
remedy and rectify themselves as the earliest, otherwise that will not
bode well for them.

Baba says, “By forgetting that the Cognitive Faculty is the witnessing
force behind the faculty of seeing, behind the existential I-feeling,
people become worse than animals.” (AMIWL-8)

Namaskar,
Satiish

Note 1: TRAGIC TURNAROUND

Those days are indeed gone when thousands of margiis would rush up to
touch the feet of our acaryas. That is what many acaryas themselves sulk
about now. Because margiis have the vivek to see that such big Dadas are
only doing for their own self-interest and are not serving Baba’s divine
cause. In that case margiis stopped giving huge respect to Wts. This is
especially the case in India. That is why so many workers are lamenting.
They are not getting that big boost of respect and their ego does not
like it.

Unfortunately, due to the gross actions of big Dadas, even sincere and
earnest workers are suffering. Now margiis do not like to give them the
time of day either.

For all these reasons and more, many Wts prefer to walk around in the
general public with their sadhu garb, because the general public will
give them huge respect blindly, not knowing what hell such big Dadas
have created in our Marga.

Such is the irony these days. Those who were getting huge respect and
developing big vanity about their status, have not been reduced to next
to nothing.

Baba says, “Shiva has cautioned people to remain scrupulously aloof from
this dangerous disease of vanity by saying, Aham’ka’rah patanasya mu’lam
[“Pride goeth before a fall”].” (NSS)

Baba says, “The human mind has two functions–thinking and memorizing.
The more the thinking capacity increases the more the power of memory
develops. The nerve cells also change, leading to a corresponding change
in the nerve fibres. These changes create a stir and a revolution in the
world of thought.” (PNS-8, p.17)